A Stunning Rejection of the Rauner Agenda and His Checkbook Politics

CHICAGO–Following is the statement of SEIU Healthcare Illinois President Keith Kelleher in response to Tuesday’s primary results:

“Tuesday was a stunning rejection of the divisive checkbook politics of Gov. Bruce Rauner, who flooded the state with an unprecedented amount of unaccountable dark money that was meant to overwhelm the interests of the working families of Illinois.

“Likewise, the decisive victory of Kim Foxx in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s race was a clear call by the people to fix the broken trust in our criminal justice system that was symbolized in Rahm Emanuel’s and Anita Alvarez’s disastrous handling of the Laquan McDonald shooting.

“Our 60,000 Illinois members had a tremendous stake in today’s outcomes and we’re proud of the work we did, including more than 300 volunteer workers at the doors and the polls just today and more than 10,000 phone calls made in support of our candidates.

“Even Democrats whose campaigns were funded by Bruce Rauner had to run against his divisive agenda, but it’s gratifying to know that Rauner proved generally unable to buy the outcomes he wanted.

“Even more gratifying is to see Rep. Ken Dunkin pay the price for his utter betrayal of seniors, children, people with disabilities and our child care and home healthcare workers, whom he looked in the eye and promised to protect, but instead sided with Rauner and his big-money special interest friends.

“Let’s hope Gov. Rauner heeds the will of the people, abandons his divisive agenda and starts to seek real solutions to grow our economy, protect our vulnerable and fix what he has broken.”